How do representations of Haiti figure and disfigure the culture and history of the country in order to serve political ends? This panel will look at Haiti’s colonial and revolutionary history in order to determine the origins of the country’s poverty, as well as draw attention to the fact that Haiti’s present-day reality is not just a product of revolution, but also of political negotiation.

How you can help?
Make a donation to the following organizations suggested by our panel.

March 3, 2010“American Pie: Fact or Fiction? A Closer Look at Virginity Loss in the Movies”Laura Carpenter
Assistant Professor of Sociology

Movies from the 1950's to the present day have often dealt with life transitions. One of the most significant of such events for both men and women is the experience of virginity loss. How have cinematic depictions of this life transition changed over time? To what extent do movie depictions correspond to what really goes on? What effects do they have on the behavior of real young people?

Referencing George Baker’s 2005 essay on photography, Professor Pavlovic’ will discuss her own photographic work, and contemporary photography’s questioning of the medium’s language. Professor Pavlovic’ has developed her projects as anthropological studies, analyzing different cultures and their visual representations through particular phenomena. Issues of the experience of history and the changes it brings to society and culture, as well as taste, desire and expectation, and the friction of performance in different contexts prevail in her work. The shifting boundaries of contemporary public and private spaces are an instance of these themes. Either presented as a photographic print, or as a projected image within installation, Pavlovic’s pieces confront photographic representation, and attempt to reveal the layers constituting the image.

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